India contributes 4.8% to climate change



A new research paper published in the Nature journal on Wednesday reports that India has contributed 4.8% to the global mean surface temperature change resulting from historical emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide (N2O). The research also shows that the US has contributed the most to the change at 17.3%, while China has contributed 12.3%. The study was authored by researchers from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, the CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, Norway, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.



The paper introduces a new dataset of national contributions to global warming caused by historical emissions of CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide from 1851 to 2021. These findings are significant as they come ahead of the Global Stocktake of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change scheduled to take place at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai this December. The global stocktake of the Paris Agreement is a process for taking stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement by each country and sector.



The paper's authors state that emissions from developed nations have contributed significantly to warming since the industrial revolution. The researchers further mention that tracking national contributions to climate change is critical to understanding the burden of responsibility a country carries for global warming and can further inform the design of international policies that pursue equitable decarbonization pathways.



The paper's findings are consistent with India's analysis, as mentioned by Junior Environment Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey in response to a question in Rajya Sabha on India's contribution to climate crisis. Choubey said that India, with more than 17% of the global population, has contributed only about 4% of the global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2019. However, reports from various sources, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, highlight that the challenges faced due to global warming are mainly due to cumulative historical and current greenhouse gas emissions of the developed countries.